


beds and couches

by sentichefuoripiove



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Canon-ish, Established Relationship, F/M, Merlex friendship, andrew gets kicked out of mer's bed, but the end is still super fluffy, he is not pleased, shameless fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 17:30:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18721684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sentichefuoripiove/pseuds/sentichefuoripiove
Summary: He’s not even fully out of bed that Alex is already climbing into his space, jacket and shoes and everything, head resting on the pillow Andrew was occupying just minutes ago. He turns for one last time when he’s at the door, but she is already so engrossed in the conversation he’s pretty sure she doesn’t even notice him.Andrew gets kicked out of bed, has a very weird middle-of-the-night encounter, but also a pretty great morning the day after.Set loosely around 15x22





	beds and couches

Sex with Meredith Grey is amazing. Like, brain-shattering, knock-your-breath-out amazing. Even before they (finally) slept together, he had a feeling that the experience would blow his mind. He wasn’t wrong. But the moments after?

The moments after sex might be his new favorite thing in the world.

She is not a cuddler, exactly, but she does like to scoot over to him until she is flush against his side while he’s on his back, the cold tip of her nose resting on his shoulder, her feet finding their way in between his calves.

He doesn’t know how he got so lucky.

Tonight, they were fortunate enough that they both ended their shift at the same time, and relatively early. They came back to her place together, had dinner (he mostly stayed out of the way while she and her sisters took care of the kids, because despite everything he still feels a bit awkward around them), and then turned in for the night.

Again, the sex is amazing.

But what he loves is after, when they are laying in her bed side by side, looking each other in the eyes, satiated and spent, his hand running up and down her bare arm, overwhelmed by just the smell of her, lingering on the sheets, on his skin, on…

…She turns on her bedside lamp again and suddenly sits up against the headboard while putting on the first thing she sees (his t-shirt), that slightly manic look in her eyes he has learned to recognize as her _I had an idea_ face.

“Really?” he fake-pouts, “I do some of my best work and all I get in return is you going back to your notebook?”  
“Oh honey, don’t worry” she reassures him, head buried in her bedside table’s drawer, “your hard work didn’t go to waste”. She turns back to look at him, smile so radiant he would have forgiven her even if he had been offended for real. “Actually, it might have been what I needed to jog my inspiration.”  
“Uhm, glad I could help then” he concedes with a grin, as he gets up and finds another shirt and a pair of boxers in his bag. He shivers at the cold radiating through his body, and quickly gets back under the covers, reaching for her waist as he settles next to her. “Ok, what’s the brilliant idea this time?”

***

They spend the rest of the evening like this, her propped against the headboard, notebook and pencil in hand, him laying on his stomach across the bed, his chin resting on her thighs, looking up at her. They go back and forth between medicine, suggesting different ideas and approaches, and personal stuff, laughing at each other stories.

“You did not!” he says, eyes wide in disbelief.  
“I did” she laughs, puts down the notebook. “I mean, I was so high on morphine I don’t actually remember, but I’ve been told I just went on professing my love to Bailey for the entire afternoon. That’s not even the weirdest thing she had to witness me doing, the poor woman.”  
“It’s not?” he smirks. “Then what is?” She laughs at his attempt to coax another story out of her, and he follows, his own laugher filling the room.

They fall into a comfortable silence, and he brings his hand up, strokes her cheek while her eyes meet his with an intensity that he thinks could only mean that they might be going for round two.

Except they won’t, because this is the moment her bedroom door slams open.

“Move over, dude.”  
“Wh-What?” Andrew turns around alarmed at the sound, sits confused in the middle of the bed. His head goes back and forth between Meredith and Alex, who is now standing in the middle of the room.

“Again, I’m sorry…What?” Andrew tries again.  
“Again…Move over, dude. I need her.”

Andrew is so bewildered by the situation that for a second he just sits there, mouth hanging open. He turns again to look at Meredith, is expecting her to share his surprise, and instead he finds her not even looking at him, her eyes drawn to Alex in worry, all her attention clearly directed at her best friend.

“Mer…?” he calls, tentative.  
“Andrew, I’m sorry. Do you mind?” she finally looks at him, hand coming to rest on his knee in reassurance. “It won’t take long, but I think it’s important” she whispers, and the silent plea in her eyes convinces him to do as she says.

He’s not even fully out of bed that Alex is already climbing into his space, jacket and shoes and everything, head resting on the pillow Andrew was occupying just minutes ago. He turns for one last time when he’s at the door, but she is already so engrossed in the conversation he’s pretty sure she doesn’t even notice him.

Andrew takes in the scene for a second: Alex laying on his back and Meredith sitting next to him, hunched over, whispering hurriedly, her features arranged to express concern, his angry (or maybe sad, or maybe worried). She has abandoned her notebook on her nightstand (when half an hour ago it seemed it was even more important than sex).

He feels like he stepped into a private moment he wasn’t supposed to see, so he leaves.

It does cross his mind that it actually was the other way around, but whatever.

***

Andrew toes down the stairs quietly, trying not to make the floorboards creak too much, and makes his way to the kitchen. He figures that if he has to stay out of the way for a bit, he might as well make himself some coffee.

This is when he sees Zola sitting at the kitchen table.

“Hey Zo, it’s late” he greets her, tone light, trying not to sound too worried. “What are you doing up?”  
“Bailey kept turning in his bed and the noise woke me up, I came down to get some milk” the girl explains. “What are _you_ doing up?”  
“Well, I… Alex is here, I thought I would make some coffee” he stammers, hoping not to alarm the girl with the news of Alex being there. Instead, Zola surprises him by just shrugging in understanding, reaching into the bag in front of her for another cookie.

“You know” Andrew continues, trying to play it out as a joke, “sometimes I feel like your mom may like your Uncle Alex more than she likes me.”  
“Of course she does” Zola informs him, not even lifting her eyes, still concentrated on her glass of milk and cookies.  
“What?” he half shouts, because _when has this become the night where everyone gets to dismiss him like this._

“Andrew” the girl sighs, like she is already tired of this conversation, “do I need to explain to you how this works?”  
“What works?” Andrew is honestly concerned now, and maybe his pride is a little bit wounded by the fact that apparently his life now consists of getting schooled by a ten year old at 1 o’clock in the morning. 

“You know what, let’s do something even better” she says, ignoring his shocked face, and moves to get the tablet that's resting on the counter. When she places it in front of him, there’s a Skype call already set up, trying to connect to whoever it is Zola thought of calling.

“Here, Cristina will explain everything to you” Zola says, sitting back down in front of her late night snack, immediately uninterested in the panic her action causes in Andrew.

“Cristina? You mean _Cristina Yang?_ Zola, I can’t tal-“ and he doesn’t have the time to finish his sentence, doesn’t have the time to freak out about the fact that he is about to speak to _Cristina Yang_ , world’s renowned amazing surgeon _(and his girlfriend’s best friend)_ for the first time ever, because the call finally goes through and he finds himself staring at a slightly puzzled dark haired woman.

“Mer, is everything ok? It’s the middle of the night for you, did you ne- You’re not Meredith” she quickly realizes, and the question mark on her face only grows bigger.

“Uh, erm… Hello Dr Yang” Andrew smiles awkwardly, clearing his throat, “I’m Andrew DeLuca, I don’t know if you…”  
“Of course I know who you are, you’re the hot resident. Is there a reason you called me?” she asks him, with a tone Andrew really hopes isn’t that threatening on purpose.

“I didn’t call you, actually” he explains, trying to keep his voice steady, but he is growing more and more nervous as the minutes pass. _What the fuck is happening right now._ “Zola called, because she wanted you to explain something to me, I think.”

Well, here goes trying to sound composed and not a complete idiot.

From the corner of his eye, he can see Zola roll her eyes at him, go around the table so that she is standing next to his chair, now also in Cristina’s view.

“Hi Cristina, this is Andrew” Zola points at him as she greets the older woman, who smiles her first genuine smile since this whole terrifying conversation started.

“Hi Zola, I’m so happy to see you” Cristina says back. “What would I need to speak to him about?”  
“Alex is in Mom’s bed, and Andrew had to come down here and I’m not sure he knows why” Zola explains, all business-like. If Andrew wasn’t frozen in place by the entire situation, he would laugh at the girl’s antics.

He somehow registers Cristina laughing from the screen, tries not to think about the fact that that laugh sounded just a bit too evil, and turns his attention back to her.

“You’re the one that used to date Sam Bello, right?” she questions, and Andrew can feel her squaring him up even through the webcam.

“Erm… Yeah, I am” he answers, unsure of whether it would be better to lie or not, at this point.

“Now I get why they both won’t stop talking about you. They are both brilliant doctors, I’m not surprised you look like that, there was no other way” she assesses him after a long look, and Andrew feels himself blush. 

A grown 35 years old man, blushing on a Skype call with _Cristina freaking Yang_ and his girlfriend’s daughter standing next to him. What even is his life anymore.

“Listen, man, just let them do what they do, it’s not a big deal.” Cristina finally tells him, a bit annoyed.

“You mean this is normal?” he asks, doubtful, because sure, he has never dated an older woman before, but he is pretty sure he shouldn’t be kicked out of her bed by other, more age-appropriate, men in the middle of the night.

“Normal?” she snorts, and laughs again, and this time it really feels like she’s mocking him. “Of course it’s not normal, it means that something is definitely not ok. I don’t know what it is this time, but it’s definitely something.”

“Uh, ok…?” Andrew says, confused. “Then I _should_ be worried?”  
“No, not really. If Karev is the one doing the kicking-you-out-of-bed thing, it means he’s the one who’s messed up, not Mer. Just give them their space.”  
“You’re sure?” he asks one last time, because he had already guessed everything she just told him (that Meredith wasn’t the one with a problem), but he is still not sure that makes it any better.

“Just let them do whatever they do, and then be there when she comes looking for you. It’s just that simple” he states, in a tone that makes it clear she doesn’t have anything more to say on the subject.

“I- Ok. I’ll do that” he stammers, still a little confused and overwhelmed by this whole experience.

Andrew leans back on the back of his chair to let Cristina (Cristina Yang, he still can’t quite believe it) and Zola say their goodbyes, and when he thinks they’re done he lifts his hand to end the call.  
“Oh… DeLuca?” she catches his attention one last time.  
“Yes, Dr Yang?”  
“You’re welcome for the tip” she tells him with a grin that is definitely evil, and ends the call.

***

Andrew stirs with a groan. He is vaguely aware of muffled noises coming from somewhere in the same room, and for a second he is confused by the light that threatens his sleep, different from what usually streams through Meredith’s bedroom window. 

Wait. 

He remembers walking Zola back to bed, tucking her in and fixing Bailey’s tangled blanket. He came back downstairs and made himself comfortable on the couch, thinking he would give Alex and Meredith a little more time before going back to bed. 

Obviously that didn’t go as planned, because he must have fallen asleep on it, the kink in his neck a painful but unmistakable reminder of how he spent his night. 

The noises grow louder, and he groans again, turns on his stomach, but doesn’t make an effort to open his eyes, wills himself to go back to sleep. It was so late when he finally fell asleep, the living room was colder than the bed he had to give up, and the plaid blanket he used to cover himself wasn’t big enough for him, so he spent the night trying to get both his feet and shoulders under it. Needless to say he was unsuccessful.

So yes, he thinks he deserves to sleep a little longer this morning.

The voices quiet down a little, and he revels in the newfound peace as he starts to drift off again. He has almost managed, when he feels something soft hit the arm he has hanging off the couch. He groans in disapproval at his aggressor, whoever that is. 

Another blow, with something just as soft but thrown with a little more force, this time directed at his head.

He groans again, opens his eyes. He sees the two pillows on the floor in front of him, and he turns his head just enough to get a glimpse of Meredith standing in front of the couch, a devilish amused grin on her face.

“Seriously?” he scolds her, annoyed, but turns on the couch anyway, laying on his side to get a better look at her. “What happened to a good old fashioned good morning?”  
“Good morning, Andrew” she replies, with a mocking overly-sweet tone, that quickly turns into a genuine smile and a light chuckle as she continues, “I’m sorry, that was just an automatic reflex. I think seeing you like this gave me war flashbacks.”

He huffs a laugh, and she grins at him. “Want some coffee?”  
“Yes please” he replies, not making any attempt to move, closing his eyes again against the harsh light he’s still getting used to. 

As she walks by him to get to the kitchen, he is suddenly overwhelmed by her scent, and in a move so quick that surprises even him (after all he’s only been awake for about three minutes), grabs her by the waist and pulls her down to him.

Meredith squeals in surprise as she loses her balance, and her own quick reflexes have her grab onto his shoulder to avoid smacking her face directly into his. They still end up pretty close, her entire body sprawled over his and their faces inches apart. He puts his hand on her hip to steady her, worried she might fall off the couch. 

For a second Andrew just basks into the way her body feels on top of his, the weight comforting. He studies her face, the initial surprise melting away as she just smiles at him, warm, her hair spilling over from where it had been tucked behind her ear, hiding them from the world.

She lets go of his shoulder and the leverage it provided, crosses her arms on his chest and rests her chin on her folded hands. She is returning his soft gaze, doesn’t break eye contact. 

He lifts his hand, gathers a couple of strands of hair as he tries to put them back in their place behind her ear, and the way Meredith eyes flutter for just a second at the contact as she hums, content, is about just enough to undo him.

He would be lying if he said he wasn’t still a little pissed at her (her and Alex both, actually, but she is the one he cares about the most) when he finally fell asleep last night. The Skype call didn’t answer any of his questions, and it actually made him feel even more concerned.

He knows that Meredith and Alex’s relationship is unapologetically ride or die, he learned that first-hand a couple years ago, but he thought he had finally understood everything that their friendship entailed. Apparently he was wrong. 

_Was it something that was going to happen a lot from now on?_

_Was she always going to choose Alex over him? Was it something he was ok with?_

The questions had kept him awake for a while, and had him rest uneasy, mostly because, he knows, he still has a hard time figuring out how he should fit into her life. Her complicated life, with kids and a big job, and a family that goes way beyond the people she shares blood with. 

Last night, alone with his thoughts, he almost felt like he would never find his place beside her.

Now, with Meredith nestled between his legs, her big eyes looking up at him… he is feeling a little more optimistic.

“You know, that sound you made just now was pretty cute” he teases, and he watches her make the most offended face, swat his shoulder lightly as she starts to giggle uncontrollably.

Yes, definitely a lot more optimistic.

As her giggles die down, he leans forward just enough to catch her lips with his. Her small surprised whimper gets lost in his mouth, and he feels her body relax against his. He threads his finger with her hair, holds her at the nape of her neck to encourage her to deepen the kiss. 

She scoots up a bit to get closer to his mouth and they both welcome the new angle, get lost into the kiss and for a long moment they forget where they are laying. 

That is, until another pillow hits them smack in the face, pulls them out of their little bubble. 

“Seriously?” Andrew repeats for the second time that morning, and peels himself away from Meredith just enough to see Alex in the same spot where she was standing earlier, an expression between pained and disgusted across his face.

“I’m the one that should be saying it. Seriously guys, get a room” the other man replies, and without waiting for an answer makes his way to the kitchen.

Andrew turns again to look at Meredith, who is clearly trying to stifle a laugh, sparkles in her eyes.

“We used to have a room, you know” he pouts, and it’s enough to break her, laugher bubbling up in her chest and breaking free. She lets her head drop to his shoulder and he can feel the vibrations of her giggles on his skin, his own laugher following soon after. 

He circles her shoulders with his arms, squeezes her tight until she is squealing again, they wrestle a bit as she tries to free herself of his hold. 

When she finally manages, she sits up on top of his legs, looks down at him through messy hair and he thinks she has never looked so beautiful, he can feel words line up in his throat that he doesn’t think he should say out loud yet. 

“I thought you were gonna make me coffee” he says instead, breaking the spell of her intense gaze.  
“Yes, I just got distracted by something” she jokes, as she bends down again to drop a quick kiss to the corner of his mouth. 

He immediately has his hands on her hips again, tries to hold her a little longer, coax her into resuming her position on top of him, maybe catch her lips with his again, but she swats him away and stands up, offers him her hand to help him get up too. 

“Come on. I’ll make coffee, and you can make breakfast” she says cheerily, and she’s already turning around to walk away when a thought strikes him. 

“Mer” he urges her, taking her hand to stop her. She turns to him with a questioning look.  
“Is Alex ok?” he asks, because yes, he might have been pissed, and confused, but he’s not so stupid that he doesn’t know what’s going on lately, and he suddenly needs to make sure something bad hasn’t actually happened. 

“Not really, but I’m working on it” she answers, a little surprised, like she didn’t expect him to actually care about it. 

She squeezes the hand that’s still connected to hers in reassurance, and drags him to the kitchen, where a mopey Alex is sitting at the counter, coffee in one hand and phone in the other. 

“Ok, breakfast!” Andrew announces cheerily, peeling himself away from Meredith and making his way to the fridge, hoping that of the myriad of grown up, successful, reliable surgeons that come and go daily from the house, at least one remembered to buy groceries. 

Apparently, that is not the case. 

“Ok, no breakfast!” he backtracks with the same tone, making a show of slamming the fridge door, shooting an amused look at Meredith, who is studying him with a soft smile on her face from her seat next to Alex. 

“Is cereal ok?” he asks, pulling bowls and spoons out of the cabinets, sets everything on the island between them. 

This time, the pang of jealousy when he sees Meredith’s hand draw circles between Alex’s shoulders lasts only a second. 

“Thanks man” Alex speaks up, pulling the bowl in front of him without meeting his eyes. “And, uh... sorry about last night.”

Andrew sees Meredith’s back stiffen up a little, and he knows _this_ , this is the true test, and he’s not about to fail. 

“There is nothing to apologize for. I’m all caught up on how it works” he says, trying to sound nonchalant. 

“You are?” both Alex and Meredith ask at the same time, with the same surprised tone, eyes shooting up to meet his, hilariously in sync. 

“Your daughter, and _Cristina Yang_ ” he enunciates the second name slowly, tries for a dramatic effect, “explained to me that my only job in this is to stay out of the way” he continues, tone light because, at the end of the day, the situation had actually been pretty funny. 

Alex snorts a dark laugh. Meredith has been stunned into silence, her eyes trained on his, with a mix of disbelief, apology, and something else, _something like affection_ , he really tries not to get too excited about. 

“I cannot believe that girl” she finally says, breaking her stare and turning to address Alex. “And can you believe Cristina? She could have called us, instead she kept it to herself! Unbelievable!” she rants, while Andrew and Alex share a defeated look. 

They eat in silence after that, Andrew smiling into his cereal as he feels Meredith’s gaze from across the counter. 

When they are finished, she stands up and makes her way around the island, her and Alex’s bowls in hand, heads to the sink, while the man gets lost into his phone again. 

Andrew joins her to place his bowl with theirs, and as she sees him approach she turns to meet him, looks up with a warm smile. 

“Thank you” she whispers, leans into him a bit, and for the second time that morning he has to wrestle with himself not to let out those words that have been threatening to come out for a while now. 

So, instead, he covers with a joke. 

“You still owe me a story, don’t think I forgot” he whispers back, inching closer and closer and leaning down to meet her lips. 

The kiss is quick, close mouthed, both their lips still stretched in a smile. She laughs into it a little, he steps forward to trap her against the sink. 

“I told you already, would you just get a room?” Alex protests from his seat, not even looking up from his phone. 

Andrew steps back a little, looks down and finds her looking up at him, her face lighting up at the hilarity of the little deja-vu. Without missing a beat, he mouths _'we used to have a room, you know'_ , mocking himself from before, and she lets out the most wonderful, open laugh, before throwing her arms around his neck and dragging him down to meet her mouth in a searing kiss. 

Alex, in the background, lets out a loud groan of disapproval and Meredith, without breaking the kiss, just throws a kitchen towel at him before turning her full attention back to Andrew. 

Yeah, he definitely feels a lot more optimistic than last night.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> This took me a while to finish, so this is why I don't consider the fact that Andrew said 'I love you' already. Let's say this goes loosely around 15x22: Alex is still struggling with Jo, and Mer has already told the kids about Andrew, but since I started writing before the episode aired, the events are not exactly the same as canon.
> 
> This is for all the lovely friends I made in the fandom _(merluca nerds where you at)_ , that listened to all my ramblings about not being able to finish this, and helped me get it out!
> 
> A chapter 2/addendum might be coming, with the conversation between Meredith and Alex. I love my children very much and I need all the scenes I can get with them comforting each other.
> 
> As always, enjoy and leave a comment if you want xx


End file.
